The cult film "The Shining. The Shining read online

Stephen King

Dedicated to Joe Hill King Who Shines Everything

The editor of this book of mine, as of the previous two, was Mr. William J. Thompson, a man of wisdom and understanding. His contributions to this book are great, and I thank him for that.

Colorado has some of the most beautiful resort hotels in the world, but the hotel described on these pages has nothing to do with any of them. The Overlook and the people associated with it exist solely in the imagination of the author.

…And also in this room… there was a giant ebony clock. Their heavy pendulum with a monotonous muffled sound swung from side to side, and when ... the time came for the clock to strike, a distinct and loud sound, penetrating and surprisingly musical, so unusual in strength and timbre that the orchestra musicians were forced to ... stop to listen to him. Then the waltzing couples involuntarily ceased to spin, the gang of merry fellows for a moment froze in embarrassment, and while the clock struck, the faces of even the most dissolute ones turned pale, and those who were older and more sensible involuntarily passed their hands over their foreheads, driving away some vague thought. But now the chiming of the clock ceased, and immediately cheerful laughter filled the chambers; the musicians looked at each other with a smile, as if laughing at their absurd fright, and each quietly swore to the other that next time he would not be embarrassed by these sounds. And when sixty minutes ran ... and the clock began to strike again, the former confusion set in and confusion and anxiety seized the audience.

And yet it was a splendid and merry feast...

E. A. According to the "Mask of the Red Death"

The sleep of reason breeds monsters.

If it shines, so it will shine.

Proverb

Stubborn son of a bitch thought Jack Torrance.

Ullman was five-foot-five and moved with that fussy, irritating quickness that is unique to short fat men. Her hair was neatly parted, and her dark suit was formal but inspiring confidence. Here's a person you can come to with your problems, the suit told a money customer. With regular staff, he treated more abruptly and rudely: "Well, you better let everything be the way." There was a red carnation in his buttonhole, perhaps so that no passer-by would mistake Stuart Ullman for a local undertaker.

As he listened to Ullman, Jack decided to himself that under the circumstances, he probably wouldn't have sympathized with anyone on this side of the table.

Ullman asked a question, but Jack ignored it. It turned out bad. Ullman was the type of person who records such blunders in the annals of their memory for later review.

- Sorry?

- I ask: is your wife fully aware of the duties you will take on here? And then, of course, your son…” Ullman’s gaze slid down to the statement in front of him. “Daniel. Doesn't that thought scare your wife?

Wendy is an extraordinary woman.

- And your son is also unusual?

“At least we think so. For a five-year-old child, he is quite independent.

There was no return smile from Ullman. He shoved Jack's statement back into the folder. The folder went to the box. Now the table surface was completely bare, except for the paperweight, the telephone, the Tenzor lamp, and the pad with slots for incoming and outgoing papers. Both cells were also empty.

Ullman got up and went to the corner, to the rack that stood there.

“Would you please walk around the table, Mr. Torrance. Let's see the floor plans.

He returned with five large sheets and laid them out on a shiny, flat walnut table top. Jack stood behind him, feeling strong smell cologne. All my people smell like "English leather" or don't smell at all suddenly, for no reason at all, it occurred to him, and in order to contain a sharp, unpleasant laugh, Jack had to bite his tongue. Behind the wall, the kitchen of the Overlook Hotel hummed faintly after lunch.

“The attic is on the top floor,” Ullman said curtly. - It's all rubbish, nothing else. Since the Second World War, the Overlook has changed owners several times, and it seems that each successive manager sent everything unnecessary to the attic. I want poison to be scattered everywhere and rat traps set up. The maids from the fourth floor said that there were rustlings coming from there. I didn't believe them, of course, but there shouldn't be a single chance in a thousand that the Overlook would have a single rat.

Jack, who suspected that there would be a rat or two in any hotel in the world, held his tongue.

“Of course, under no circumstances should a child be allowed to go up to the attic.

“Of course,” Jack said, flashing his widest commercial smile again. Well, does this filthy bureaucrat really think he's going to let his son hang around in the attic, which is full of rat traps and junk and God knows what else?

Pushing aside the attic plan, Ullman pushed it to the very bottom of the stack.

“The Overlook has a hundred and ten rooms,” he said in the tone of a schoolmaster. – Thirty suites are located on the fourth floor. Ten, including the presidential one, are in the west wing, ten are in the central part, and ten more are in the east wing. There are magnificent views from all windows.

However, Jack didn't say anything out loud. He needed a job.

Ullman tossed the fourth floor plan down into piles, and they began to study the third.

“Forty rooms,” Ullman explained, “thirty doubles and ten singles. And on the second floor - ten of those and others. Plus, on each floor there are three linen and storage rooms: on the third floor - at the very end of the east wing of the hotel, on the second - at the very end of the west wing. Any questions?

Jack shook his head. Ullman brushed away the third and second floors.

Now it's the first floor. Here, in the center, is the reception desk. Behind her are office space. From the reception desk, a lobby stretches eighty feet in either direction. Here, in the west wing, is the dining room of the Overlook and the bar of the Colorado. Banquet and ballrooms - in the east wing. Questions?

“Just about the basement,” Jack said. – For the caretaker for the winter season, this is the most important floor. Where, so to speak, the main action unfolds.

“Watson will show you all this. Basement plan - on the wall of the boiler room. Ullman frowned imposingly, perhaps wanting to show that such base aspects of the Overlook's life as a boiler and plumbing are not his concern, the manager. - Maybe it would be nice to put a few rat traps there too. Wait a minute...

He took a notepad from the inside pocket of his jacket, scribbled a note (on each sheet, in clear handwriting, in black ink, it was written: From Stuart Ullman's desk) and tearing out the sheet, put it in the box for outgoing papers. The notebook disappeared into Ullman's jacket pocket again, as if completing a magic trick: here it is, Jackie, baby, but it's gone. Yes, the guy is really a bump.

They took their places, Ullman at the table, Jack in front of him; asking questions and answering them; petitioner and unbending host. Ullman folded his neat hands on the paperweight and looked straight at Jack, a short, balding man in a banker's suit and a calm gray tie. The carnation in the buttonhole was balanced by a small badge on the other lapel. There was only one word written in golden letters: EMPLOYEE.

Schoolteacher Jack Torrance is an alcoholic who sometimes loses control of himself. During one of the drinking bouts, he breaks his son's arm, who scattered the sheets with the play he is working on. Then he beats up his student after seeing him puncture the tires of his car. For this, Jack is fired from the school.

His family is having a hard time, he and his wife Wendy are on the verge of divorce. Strange incidents that happen to their five-year-old son Daniel add fuel to the fire. The boy is endowed with a supernatural gift of clairvoyance and telepathy, which is difficult for his parents to comprehend.

There is an acute shortage of money. Jack Torrance takes a part-time job at mountain hotel"Overlook". Manager Ullman Stewart doesn't think the man is fit to work in a hotel in a six-month snow lockdown, but Ullman's opinion means little in this situation. Jack is a friend of the hotel owner, Elbert Shockley. Together with Al Shockley, they stopped drinking together after they hit a bike at night, which, fortunately, turned out to be without a rider.

One of Jack's most important duties is to monitor the pressure in the boiler room. Watson, a hotel worker, tells the new caretaker about the accidents at the hotel and the notoriety that the Overlook enjoys.

In every big hotel there are scandals, and there are ghosts in every major hotel.

Watson himself does not believe in ghosts, he most life works at the Overlook, but never met one.

Meanwhile, his son sees his invisible friend Tony, who shows the boy frightening visions of a hotel where he and his parents will spend the winter. From these visions, the boy remembers the incomprehensible and terrible word "Trems". Danny decides not to tell his parents yet.

Part 2. Closing Day

The entire Torrance family goes to the Overlook. They arrive at the hotel on the last working day, all guests and employees go home. Danny can't help feeling anxious. Together with his parents, he meets a cook, a tall sixty-year-old black man, Dick Hallorann, who also has the ability to telepathy. He notices a "shine" around the boy and Wendy, whose gift is much weaker.

Are you shining baby? Yes, as much as I've never seen them before.

Danny and Dick part on friendly terms. Finally, Halloran tells the boy that he should telepathically call him if trouble happens. The chef saw visions in the hotel, after which he realized that this was his last season at the Overlook.

Before he leaves, Ullman gives the Torrances a tour of the hotel. During this round, Danny sees blood on the wall of the Presidential Suite, and is also worried about the old fire extinguisher. Ullman and Watson, left behind to remind them of the boilers to keep an eye on, leave the hotel. The Torrance family is left completely alone.

Part 3. Wasp nest

Danny leaves for town with his mother to stock up on Christmas presents before the Overlook is covered in snow. Jack meanwhile decides to replace the shingles on the roof of the hotel. There, dangerously close to Torrance, is a hornet's nest. One of the wasps bites Jack in the middle of work. The man decides to get rid of these dangerous insects.

His wife and son are returning from the city. Jack gives Danny an empty hornet's nest, the inhabitants of which he smoked out with a smoke bomb.

Wendy is concerned about the changes in her son - Danny eats little, loses weight, has become quieter and spends a lot of time learning to read. That evening the boy reads for a long time until his mother sends him to bed. Daniel goes to the bathroom and closes himself there. Jack, meanwhile, is working on a play, and Wendy is tormenting herself with pictures of the future, when she will become a stranger to her son. Excited by the long absence of her son, she knocks on his door, but receives no answer. Tired and angry Jack breaks the lock in the bathroom.

Parents find Danny in a strange state - he looks in horror at the mirror hanging near the first aid kit. Suddenly, in a low, almost masculine voice, the boy pronounces incoherent words and phrases: “roque”, “tournament”, “hit”, “roque hammer”, “two sides”, “hit” and that same terrible word “TREMS”. Jack grabs the boy and shakes him hard, he is angry and ready to lose his temper. The tears and fear of the son who came to his senses bring him back to reality, he asks for forgiveness from Danny. Wendy takes her son to a room and comforts him.

Jack comes into Danny's room. The parents are about to leave, but the boy asks his father to stay. He tells him that Tony came to the bathroom, who told him to lock the door and showed him playing rock. The boy asks his father what "Trems" is, but the father does not know.

Danny falls asleep. The boy has a nightmare: he runs down the corridors of the hotel from the pursuer with a roque hammer and ends up in a dead end. The cornered boy wakes up and feels something crawling up his arm. It's wasps! Evil insects begin to sting the child.

Can you be expected to behave like a thinking human being if your hand is pierced by red-hot sharp needles?

His screams are followed by his parents. The father carries Danny out of the bedroom, while the mother, meanwhile, kills the flying creatures that have bitten the boy eleven times. Jack photographs his son's hand and the nest, which, despite the smoke bomb used as instructed, is infested with wasps.

In the afternoon, the Torrance family sends to the city, where Danny is shown to the doctor. Dr. Bill Edmonds becomes interested in the "strange things" happening to Daniel, talks about them with the boy, who confides in the doctor. At his request, he calls Tony, talks to him. After that, Dr. Bill talks to the parents. He assures Jack and Wendy that nothing terrible is happening to their son, and everything is explained by the phenomena of the psyche. In case of any problems, the doctor advises to contact a psychiatrist.

On the first of November, while his wife and son are walking, Jack, as usual, goes to depressurize the boiler. Out of curiosity, he looks into the old papers lying in the boiler room, where he finds an album with articles cut from newspapers dedicated to the Overlook. At the hotel rich story- the owners changed, many went bankrupt. An accident, a mafia showdown that turned into a murder - it was all in this hotel. From this occupation he is distracted by the voice of his wife. He hides the album from her, not knowing why he does it.

Jack calls Stuart Ullman and tells him about the dark details of the Overlook's history. He is outraged that these facts were hidden from him, swears with the manager, threatens to write a book about "a famous hotel with a dark past." He cannot explain to himself the reason for his behavior.

After a while, Torrance gets a call from Al Shockley. Almost arguing, they still find a compromise: Jack remains to work at the Overlook, but does not call Ullman and does not write any books about the hotel. Jack harbors a grudge against a friend and still intends to write a book after he finishes work.

Wendy and Danny leave for the city. Jack, cutting the bushes, starts to play the fool on the playground. Suddenly, he notices that the animal figures in the hedgerow change position every time he turns away, and then begin to move. He closes his eyes and everything disappears. Torrance writes everything off as hallucinations.

Snow falls. The phone stops working, and the only connection to the outside world is the receiver in Ullman's office.

Danny breaks his promise to Chef Hallorann and enters room 217. His own reflection nods at him from the mirror, he realizes there is something in the bathroom. Danny enters there and sees the dead woman, dead for more than a day. The woman gets up. The boy tries to run away, but panic prevents him from opening the door. The voice of Dick Hallorann is heard in his head.

I don't think it can harm you... like pictures in a book... close your eyes, it will disappear.

Time is running. And as soon as the boy begins to relax and realize that the door must not be locked and it is possible to go out, as the eternally damp, stained, smelling of fish hands softly close around his neck, inexorably turn the child towards him so that Danny looks into the dead purple face.

Part 4. Captive in the snow

Jack and Wendy fall asleep. Jack dreams of his father. He wakes up in a barn, turns on the receiver and hears his father's voice calling for him to kill Danny. Torrance breaks the device. Now communication with the outside world is only a snowmobile behind the barn.

Wendy arrives. She is looking for her son. Almost arguing, they start looking for him together, find Danny and see his blank stare into nowhere and bruises on his neck. Wendy blames Jack, who is plagued by hallucinations. The boy tells his parents everything he saw. Jack goes to room 217 to check. Finding no one, he turns around, but the sounds from the bathroom and the outline of the silhouette that has appeared behind the curtain make him run out of the room. He tells Wendy and Danny that there is nothing there. Jack has a nightmare in which he kills his son.

In the garage, Jack powers up the snowmobile to get Danny away - Wendy insists on this and agrees with her. He already realized that all his "hallucinations" were actually happening.

The arguments against insanity fail with a soft rustling sound, layer upon layer...

As Jack fixes the snowmobile, he is overwhelmed by the urge to stay. He throws the part from the snowmobile far into the snow.

Danny is playing on a playground that Dick advised not to approach. It fills up with snow, and then the bush animals begin to pursue. The boy hardly gets to the porch and tells his parents about everything. The father tries to convince Danny that this is a hallucination. Danny realizes that his father knows everything and tells him about it. Jack slaps his son and immediately apologizes - he does not understand what has come over him. Wendy says that she is also to blame for what is happening.

At night, the Torrens family is awakened by a working elevator. Jack, despite Wendy's protests, gets to work. He tries to convince everyone that it's a short circuit, but Wendy pulls streamers, confetti and a mask from the elevator. Jack looks at them indifferently. Wendy realizes that the Overlook is doing something bad to her husband.

Danny winds up the clock in the ballroom. After that, he has a vision, he now knows that TREMS is DEATH in reverse. Tony, who appeared, says that he can no longer come, the hotel does not let him through. He advises the boy to call Dick, which he does.

Part 5. Matters of life and death

Hallorann receives a signal from Danny while driving and nearly gets into an accident. He asks the boss for leave and goes to help Danny. Dick books a plane ticket, but is late for the flight due to a police officer who stops him. He has to buy a ticket for another plane.

Danny is talking to his mother. The Overlook will take all three, but it needs Danny the most. By getting the boy with his "radiance", the hotel will become much stronger. Danny tells his mother that the hotel is lying to Jack, that he threw a part from a snowmobile into the snow, and that Dick is in a hurry to help. Jack forgets about the boiler, the pressure in it rises to a critical level, and the building almost blows up into the air. Jack barely has time to correct his oversight.

Jack hears the Overlook come to life. He gets to a party, he's served alcohol at the expense of the hotel, and he can't hold back anymore. Here he meets with Grady, a former caretaker who killed his daughters and wife. The caretaker, who is the hotel itself, is trying to get Jack to deal with his son.

Wendy comes down from the room to prepare her son's meal. She runs into a drunken Jack. The woman understands that the hotel has taken over her husband's mind. Now he will try to kill her and Danny, and after that the hotel will let him kill himself.

Jack begins to choke his wife, Danny tries to stop. Jack tosses it aside. Wendy breaks the bottle on her husband's head. They lock Jack in a pantry where there is a supply of food and stay to wait for help. The hotel is starting to come alive.

Jack comes to his senses. Grady reappears and releases him from the closet. Now Jack is ready to give his son to the hotel and kill his wife. Leaving the pantry, he discovers that Grady has disappeared, and a roque hammer has appeared in the kitchen. He takes it and goes hunting.

Dick, hurrying to the rescue, almost falls into the abyss due to a storm. He is pulled out by Howard Cottrell, the snowplow driver. He also lends Dick gloves and points to a place where you can rent a snowmobile. The hotel sends him a telepathic message telling him to mind his own business, but Dick still rushes to Danny's help.

Wendy, disturbed by the ceased screaming from the pantry, goes to see if Jack is there and meets with him. He attacks her and seriously injures, but Jack is also wounded, or rather what is now hidden under his guise - Wendy managed to stick a knife in his lower back.

His mind and body together constituted a veritable guide to pain.

Dick rents a snowmobile, clothes and a mask. The hotel tries to stop him. Dick is attacked by a lion from a hedge, but the cook manages to burn him.

An injured Wendy continues to her room, where Danny sleeps. She feels she has no right to give up for her son. The woman locks herself in the room, but Danny is not there. Jack begins to be a knocker for rock on the door, and she slowly gives in. Wendy hides in the bathroom. Having broken one door, Jack is taken for the second. In the first aid kit, Wendy finds blades, equips herself with them, and cuts her husband's hands when he sticks them through a punched hole and tries to feel for the bolt. The creature goes berserk, starts to destroy the number. Then the roar of a snowmobile engine is heard, and an enraged Jack runs out of the room.

Dick Hallorann enters the hotel and sees a trail of blood leading to the caretaker's apartment. Dick is afraid he's late.

A lurking Jack attacks Dick, beats him up and goes looking for Danny.

Tony comes to Danny. He says that his mother and Mr. Hallorann could be killed. He must help them - to remember something that his father forgot about. Jack's voice is immediately heard looking for him. Danny runs, trying to hide in the attic, but there is a padlock hanging there. He sits down and begins to wait.

Meanwhile, the mother, who has come to her senses, goes in search of Danny and finds an injured Hallorann. They both hear that the creature that enslaved Jack is finding Danny. Now only he can help the boy.

The creature that Jack has turned into finds Danny, but he does not show the slightest fear. The creature takes off his mask - begins to beat himself in the face with a roque hammer, destroying the remnants of the image of Jack Torrance. Danny remembers that his father forgot to depressurize the boiler.

The pressure was not relieved in the morning! It's growing! The boiler will explode!

Hotel concerned dangerous situation trying to fix the situation. A radiance descends on Danny, he feels that his mother and Mr. Hallorann are alive. They need to get out of here while they can. The boy finds them and all three leave the hotel.

Meanwhile, "Overlook" in the form of a man gets to the boiler and turns the valve. The pressure starts to drop. The creature lets out an exclamation of joy, but premature. The boiler still explodes. The hotel takes off.

Danny and Wendy find themselves outside in winter without warm clothes - she stayed at the hotel. Dick wants to take warm blankets or blankets from the shed that were dumped there. There, the hotel tries to take control of him, but Dick escapes. The three set off and soon meet up with other snowmobiles who have brought them warm clothes, brandy and Dr. Edmonds.

Dick helps them find a place to live, while Al offers Wendy a job. Wendy and Danny want to forget about the Overlook, but they can't help thinking about their lost husband and father forever.

Pages: 510

Year of publication: 2014

Russian language

Description of The Shining:

The master of horror and mysticism, Stephen King, wrote works that received their own place among literary masterpieces. His books have been filmed more than once, gaining an increasing audience. Among the pearls of his work is The Shining, which brought fame both to a special author's style and the subsequent film adaptation by Stanley Kubrick.

This is the story of the creepy Overlook Hotel where Jack Torrance moves in after getting a job here. He transports his wife Wendy and five-year-old son Danny "Doc" here.

A man with a complex character for a long time makes unsuccessful attempts to become a writer, in which he is supported by a kind and gentle wife. The couple's son is incredibly smart for his 5 years and has a special gift - radiance. This is an opportunity to feel the emotions of people, read thoughts and see what is hidden from human eyes. Parents still do not know about the abilities of their son.

The family is sorely short of money, and Jack agrees to the position of caretaker of the Overlook. The hotel is hidden far away in the mountains, and in winter there is no one at all. The Torrances hope that a successful life awaits them: the family will find harmony, Jack will finish his play. But the old building is not as safe as it seemed at first.

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Year of publication of the book: 1977

Stephen King's The Shining is the author's third novel. Many believe that it was The Shining that made King a world authority in the world of mysticism, horror and fantasy. And Stephen King owes his high places in the ratings to this particular work. But be that as it may, The Shining is King's first novel to be featured in the New York Times ratings, as well as one of the few works in the world that has gone through more than 56 reprints.

The plot of Stephen King's The Shining

In Stephen King's novel The Shining, you can read about Jack Torrance's family. After his marriage, he changed a lot. He began to drink, show aggression towards children, and even broke his son's arm, albeit by accident. Jack works as a teacher and here he is also not doing well. After all, he severely beat a student who punctured his car wheels. Now he is forced to move with his family to the Overlook Hotel, where he got a job as a watchman for the winter.

If you download Stephen King's The Shining, then you will find out that the Overlook Hotel has a bad reputation. This is confirmed by the hotel's chef - Dick Halloron. Jack's son, Danny, met him. The chef sees in the boy a "shine", which, as in, is inherent only to psychics. He himself is such, therefore, leaving, he advises Danny to call him by mental connection if the boy has problems. In addition, he advises the child not to go to room number 217.

Further in Stephen King's The Shining summary you will learn how problems begin almost immediately after the departure of the staff. Things in the hotel come to life on their own, and when Danny enters room number 217, he sees a resurrected woman there, who once drowned herself here. Meanwhile, the "hotel owner" wins Jack Torrance's mind through a book about the history of the hotel. The father breaks the snowmobile and throws out the radio.

Later in Stephen King's novel The Shining, you can read how Wendy, Jack's wife, locks him in a room. The "hotel owner" helps him get out, who does this in exchange for a promise to give Denny back. Indeed, thanks to him, the "owner of the hotel" can become very powerful. Danny sends a call to the chef and he goes to help. Meanwhile, Jack is trying to catch Wendy and his son and completely forgets about the boiler, which explodes and destroys the hotel. Arriving Dick first hides Wendy and Danny in the barn, but the "hotel owner" tries to get into his brain as well. Feeling this, they go away, and Dick Halloron advises the boy to take what happened for granted and mourn for his father.

Stephen King's The Shining at Top Books

Among Stephen King is represented the largest number works. The book "The Shining" is also presented in this rating and occupies a very high place. This is not surprising, because according to critics, the novel "The Shining" by Stephen King became the author's second most popular work all over the world. Therefore, the consistently high interest in Stephen King's book The Shining allows us to say that the novel will be presented in our subsequent ratings. And it is quite possible that the continuation of the book "The Shining" - "Doctor Sleep" will get there.

Danny Torrance - 1

Dedicated to Joe Hill King Who Shines Everything

The editor of this book of mine, as of the previous two, was Mr. William J. Thompson, a man of wisdom and understanding. His contributions to this book are great, and I thank him for that.

Colorado has some of the finest resort hotels in the world, but the hotel described on these pages has nothing to do with any of them. The Overlook and the people associated with it exist solely in the imagination of the author.

…And also in this room… there was a giant ebony clock. Their heavy pendulum with a monotonous muffled sound swung from side to side, and when ... the time came for the clock to strike, a distinct and loud sound, penetrating and surprisingly musical, so unusual in strength and timbre that the orchestra musicians were forced to ... stop to listen to him. Then the waltzing couples involuntarily ceased to spin, the gang of merry fellows for a moment froze in embarrassment, and while the clock struck, the faces of even the most dissolute ones turned pale, and those who were older and more sensible involuntarily passed their hands over their foreheads, driving away some vague thought. But now the chiming of the clock ceased, and immediately cheerful laughter filled the chambers; the musicians looked at each other with a smile, as if laughing at their absurd fright, and each quietly swore to the other that next time he would not be embarrassed by these sounds. And when sixty minutes ran ... and the clock began to strike again, the former confusion set in and confusion and anxiety seized the audience.

And yet it was a splendid and merry feast...

The sleep of reason breeds monsters.

If it shines, so it will shine.

Part one

Preliminary questions

1. Talk about work

Stubborn son of a bitch, thought Jack Torrance.

Ullman was five-foot-five and moved with that fussy, irritating quickness that is unique to short fat men. Her hair was neatly parted, and her dark suit was formal but inspiring confidence. Here's a person you can come to with your problems, the suit told a money customer. With regular staff, he treated more abruptly and rudely: "Well, you better let everything be the way." There was a red carnation in his buttonhole, perhaps so that no passer-by would mistake Stuart Ullman for a local undertaker.

As he listened to Ullman, Jack decided to himself that under the circumstances, he probably wouldn't have sympathized with anyone on this side of the table.

Ullman asked a question, but Jack ignored it. It turned out bad. Ullman was the type of person who records such blunders in the annals of their memory for later review.

- Sorry?

- I ask: does your wife fully realize what duties you will take on here? And then, of course, your son…” Ullman’s gaze slid down to the statement in front of him. “Daniel. Doesn't that thought scare your wife?

Wendy is an extraordinary woman.

- And your son is also extraordinary?

“At least we think so. For a five-year-old child, he is quite independent.

There was no return smile from Ullman. He shoved Jack's statement back into the folder. The folder went to the box. Now the table surface was completely bare, except for the paperweight, the telephone, the Tenzor lamp, and the pad with slots for incoming and outgoing papers.